Essentia Auto Insurance Review (2024)

What You Should Know About Essentia

Because, as noted by Bloomberg, Essentia was never really established as an underwriter before its acquisition, its financial strength lies almost exclusively in that of the parent company.

Markel states that Essentia’s financial ratings are all stable, as evidenced by the chart below:

Financial ratings aren’t the only factor to consider when choosing an insurance policy, but they do reflect the likelihood that an insurance company will be able to pay their claims.

Essentia Insurance Company History

Essentia Insurance Company is a property and casualty insurer that started in Florida in 2007. It was quickly acquired by OneBeacon Insurance Group and assigned to its Marine insurance division. Later, in 2012, Essentia was purchased by Markel Corp where it became part of the company’s classic car division.

Markel continues to grow every year. In February of 2020, its operating revenues topped $9.5 billion, with $2.1 billion in payouts to shareholders in 2019.

How is Markel’s online presence?

Markel does have a website, but it is mostly informative in nature. Because it only offers products on a specialty or commercial level and require the use of an agent, there are no online quote options or other interactive functions. Hagerty, however, has a tremendous web presence.

Not only does it have a website where you can manage your policy, but it also has a YouTube channel where you can watch videos of the restoration and driving of classic cars, along with commercials and other video footage. As of this writing, the channel has 1.26 million viewers, so it clearly has an audience that loves the company and its products.

What do Markel and Essentia employees have to say?

Although Essentia does not do business separate from Markel, it does have job postings as part of the parent company’s database. You can find available jobs by visiting Markel’s website and clicking the Contact Us link at the top of the page.

Markel promotes itself as a great place to work with competitive compensation, an impressive list of benefits, and a working environment that encourages employees to think like owners.

Essentia Insurance Coverage Options

Markel only offers specialty policies, so it offers classic car auto insurance. There is no indication of being able to buy a standard auto policy from Markel. According to the website, it offers the following insurance coverages:

• Classic car insurance
• Bicycle insurance
• Yacht insurance
• Small boat insurance
• Snowmobile insurance
• Motorcycle insurance
• Marine tradesman insurance
• Multi-family housing insurance
• Manufactured home insurance
• Excess and surplus property insurance

Essentia was sold to Markel as a collector car and boat business that the company writes through Hagerty Insurance Agency. The only auto insurance specifically mentioned is coverage for classic cars, so if you are a classic car collector it might be worth your time to reach out to Hagerty for a quote.

What are Markel’s bundling options?

Markel probably offers the ability to bundle multiple policies together for a discount, but nothing is specified on their website.

Essentia Insurance Company has been brought into the Markel product line, which means it will only cover specialty policies like the ones mentioned above. Whether or not you can bundle classic car coverage through Essentia with other policies such as small boat policies or bicycle insurance will depend on how coverage is set up at Markel.

If you are interested in this option you can speak to your Hagerty agent about possibly bundling your coverage.

Essentia Insurance Rates Breakdown

Essentia, or, again, Markel, does offer auto insurance. Its auto policies only cover classic cars. If you are a classic car collector or auto enthusiast Markel may have an insurance plan for you.

What is Essentia’s availability by state?

We do not have rates available for Markel auto policies. We can, however, provide you with the average rates for full coverage insurance by state.

Classic car insurance can be 40 percent less than standard auto insurance rates. What do standard auto insurance companies offer? In comparison to classic cars, standard policies cover cars that are driven more frequently and therefore pose more risk.

We've collected data to give you an idea of how full vs. minimum auto insurance rates compare for some of the top U.S. companies:

Keep in mind that the rates above are for full coverage, so you may not need that much insurance. The rates above are also averages, which means some people will pay much less and others will pay much more.

Markel doesn't specify in which states it offers coverage. It also does not offer online quoting, so anyone in need of a good classic auto insurance company for classic cars would need to contact Hagerty Insurance Commission, its classic car division, directly to find out if it is available to you and what your rate would be for coverage.

As it doesn't offer basic auto insurance coverage for your average driver, this shouldn't be a problem for most people.

Essentia Discounts Available

Markel doesn’t specifically list any discounts on the website. If you are looking for possible discounts for your own personal insurance policy, take a look at the discounts listed below:

Companies can and do update their car insurance discounts regularly, so be sure to check with your insurance company to find out if it has any discounts available that you aren’t already using on your policy.

You can also enter your ZIP code to find auto insurance discounts available in your area

What programs are available from Markel?

Essentia is part of the Markel family of insurance companies. At this time there are no specific programs listed on the Markel website for Essentia or any other insurance companies under their umbrella.

Many insurance companies offer programs designed to save you money, such as accident forgiveness programs and usage-based insurance programs. If you are interested in taking advantage of something like this, reach out to your insurance company to find out what programs it offers.